Hi all. Our McGraw-Hill rep will be doing a Webex demo of AccessScience on Friday, March 7, 2008 at 2:00pm. It should take about an hour or so, and all interested parties are welcome to take part. Here's the info the rep sent me. Just drop me a line if you need help.
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Topic: AccessScience Demo for GA Perimter College
Date: Friday, March 7, 2008
Time: 2:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time (GMT -05:00, New York )
Meeting Number: 355 016 384
Meeting Password: science
Please click the link below to see more information, or to join the meeting.
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To join the online meeting
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1. Go to https://mheducation.webex.com/mheducation/
j.php?ED=106374532&UID=0
2. Enter your name and email address.
3. Enter the meeting password: science
4. Click "Join".
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To join the teleconference only
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CALL DATE: March 07, 2008 (Friday)
CALL TIME: 02:00 PM Eastern Time
CALL DURATION: 60
LEADER: CHRIS MCKERROW
Toll-Free Number: 888-323-2712
PASSCODE: 62094
For security reasons, the passcode and the leader's name will be
required to join your call.
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For assistance
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1. Go to https://mheducation.webex.com/mheducation/mc
2. Click "Assistance".
3. Click "Support".
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Friday, February 08, 2008
Troubleshooting Problems with Off-Campus Database Access
If you get a call from a patron saying that they're not able to access our databases from off-campus, unless EZproxy went down at that very second, it's highly likely that the problem resides with the patron's computer or network, not with us.
Of course, if you get these calls, please feel free to just refer folks to me, by phone or email. But, if it's after my office hours and they don't want to wait to talk to me, first get their contact info so I can get back in touch with them if I need to.
Then, ask them where they're trying to connect from. 9 times out of 10, it's going to be their workplace, so it's probably a firewall thing. Most of the calls I've gotten were from students who couldn't connect from major corporations like Morgan Stanley and Comcast. After consulting with our EZproxy administrator, I learned that, for security reasons, many companies are restricting Internet traffic on anything other than port 80, but EZproxy uses another port, so our databases are blocked. We just have to tell folks that, until something changes, they won't be able to access the database from their workplace.
If they're trying to connect from home, and they're not running some major firewall, the next most likely scenario is that their browser isn't set to accept cookies. Gotta accept cookies for EZproxy to work correctly. Have them set that up and see if it works.
If it's neither of those two things, have them clear the cache and try again. It's highly unlikely that it would go further than that, but, if it still doesn't work it may be a genuine problem with the DB and I'll need to speak to the vendor.
Again, you don't have to do any of this. If it's during my office hours, or they don't mind waiting until I am back in the office, just send them my way, but I thought you all might like a little more background info too.
Of course, if you get these calls, please feel free to just refer folks to me, by phone or email. But, if it's after my office hours and they don't want to wait to talk to me, first get their contact info so I can get back in touch with them if I need to.
Then, ask them where they're trying to connect from. 9 times out of 10, it's going to be their workplace, so it's probably a firewall thing. Most of the calls I've gotten were from students who couldn't connect from major corporations like Morgan Stanley and Comcast. After consulting with our EZproxy administrator, I learned that, for security reasons, many companies are restricting Internet traffic on anything other than port 80, but EZproxy uses another port, so our databases are blocked. We just have to tell folks that, until something changes, they won't be able to access the database from their workplace.
If they're trying to connect from home, and they're not running some major firewall, the next most likely scenario is that their browser isn't set to accept cookies. Gotta accept cookies for EZproxy to work correctly. Have them set that up and see if it works.
If it's neither of those two things, have them clear the cache and try again. It's highly unlikely that it would go further than that, but, if it still doesn't work it may be a genuine problem with the DB and I'll need to speak to the vendor.
Again, you don't have to do any of this. If it's during my office hours, or they don't mind waiting until I am back in the office, just send them my way, but I thought you all might like a little more background info too.
NetLibrary Issues Resolved!
For quite some time now, we've had issues with NetLibrary not recognizing random computers as logging in from Georgia Perimeter College. GALILEO has contacted them about this in the past, and they claimed to have our complete IP range, so we were all stumped.
Well, Katie at GALILEO gave it another go recently, and it turns out that NetLibrary was was missing one IP address out of our range of IPs. (This most likely explains why the problem was so random.) She has requested that they add the missing IP and that ought to fix it. Yay, Katie!
If the problem should crop up again, Katie has also requested that we submit a comment through the "Contact Us" feature on the GALILEO website, from the machine that is actually experiencing the problem, at the time the problem actually occurred. That way, GALILEO can capture information about the IP address during the session. (Of course, this is good practice for problems you might be having with any GALILEO database. Not sure which databases are GPC and which ones are GALILEO? See my post on that very topic.)
Well, Katie at GALILEO gave it another go recently, and it turns out that NetLibrary was was missing one IP address out of our range of IPs. (This most likely explains why the problem was so random.) She has requested that they add the missing IP and that ought to fix it. Yay, Katie!
If the problem should crop up again, Katie has also requested that we submit a comment through the "Contact Us" feature on the GALILEO website, from the machine that is actually experiencing the problem, at the time the problem actually occurred. That way, GALILEO can capture information about the IP address during the session. (Of course, this is good practice for problems you might be having with any GALILEO database. Not sure which databases are GPC and which ones are GALILEO? See my post on that very topic.)
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Odd Block Behavior in Voyager
I've learned a couple of things about the way blocks behave in Voyager, and I wanted to share with everyone.
1.) Occasionally, in a patron's web account, you may see that they are blocked, but it doesn't say why. Under the "Patron Blocks" section, it will say "Block Reason," then fail to elaborate. If you come across this, please let me know. (I'll need the patron's name and 900#.) This is a bug, and our server site can often fix it, making the block reason appear.
2.) Patrons will be blocked in their web accounts simply for reaching their charge limit in a particular item type. This is the only way that limits can work in Voyager. Sad, but true. For example, if a student has 3 DVDs charged out (the limit for the GPC STUDENT patron group), they will be blocked in their web account and will be unable to renew any charged items online, regardless of item type. However, they can still request items in the catalog, charge other item types, and staff with Circulation Supervisor privileges in Voyager can renew items for them in the Circulation module. (Unfortunately, I think the system would let them request another DVD, but it won't let them check it out until they return one of the 3 they have charged.)
If anyone has any questions about this, please just let me know.
1.) Occasionally, in a patron's web account, you may see that they are blocked, but it doesn't say why. Under the "Patron Blocks" section, it will say "Block Reason," then fail to elaborate. If you come across this, please let me know. (I'll need the patron's name and 900#.) This is a bug, and our server site can often fix it, making the block reason appear.
2.) Patrons will be blocked in their web accounts simply for reaching their charge limit in a particular item type. This is the only way that limits can work in Voyager. Sad, but true. For example, if a student has 3 DVDs charged out (the limit for the GPC STUDENT patron group), they will be blocked in their web account and will be unable to renew any charged items online, regardless of item type. However, they can still request items in the catalog, charge other item types, and staff with Circulation Supervisor privileges in Voyager can renew items for them in the Circulation module. (Unfortunately, I think the system would let them request another DVD, but it won't let them check it out until they return one of the 3 they have charged.)
If anyone has any questions about this, please just let me know.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Database Selection Meeting Tomorrow
The Reference Committee will be meeting tomorrow to compile the list of databases to be evaluated for addition in FY09. You can find the agenda and the database calendar on the Reference Committee website.
http://www.gpc.edu/library/committees/reference/
If you have a database you'd like to be considered for trial, but will be unable to attend the meeting, please email it to the committee chair, Lora Mirza, or send it along with someone from your campus who will be attending.
As always, you can drop me a line with questions, suggestions, etc.
http://www.gpc.edu/library/committees/reference/
If you have a database you'd like to be considered for trial, but will be unable to attend the meeting, please email it to the committee chair, Lora Mirza, or send it along with someone from your campus who will be attending.
As always, you can drop me a line with questions, suggestions, etc.
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